Many businesses have dedicated communication systems that enable computers, telephones, facsimile machines and the like to communicate with each other through a private network, and with remote locations via a communications service provider. In most buildings, the dedicated communications system is hard wired using communication cables that contain conductive wire. In such hard wired systems, dedicated wires are coupled to individual service ports throughout the building. The wires from the dedicated service ports extend through the walls of the building to a communications closet or closets. The communications lines from the interface hub of a main frame computer and the communication lines from external communication service providers may also terminate within a communications closet.
A patching system is typically used to interconnect the various communication lines within a communications closet. In a communications patching system, all of the communication lines are terminated within a communications closet in an organized manner. The organized terminations of the various lines are provided via the structure of the communications closet. A mounting frame having one or more racks is typically located in a communications closet. The communications lines terminate on the racks, as is explained below.
Referring to FIG. 1, a typical prior art rack 10 is shown. The rack 10 retains a plurality of patch panels 12 that are mounted to the rack 10. On each of the patch panels 12 are located port assemblies 14. The illustrated port assemblies 14 each contain six optical communication connector ports (e.g., SC, ST and LC ports, etc.) 16. Each of the different communication connector ports 16 is hard wired to one of the communication lines. Accordingly, each communication line is terminated on a patch panel 12 in an organized manner. In small patch systems, all communication lines may terminate on the patch panels of the same rack. In larger patch systems, multiple racks may be used, wherein different communication lines terminate on different racks.
In FIG. 1, interconnections between the various communication lines are made using patch cords 20. Both ends of each patch cord 20 are terminated with connectors 22. One end of a patch cord 20 is connected to a connector port 16 of a first communication line and the opposite end of the patch cord 20 is connected to a connector port 16 of a second communication line. By selectively connecting the various communication lines with patch cords 20, any combination of communication lines can be interconnected.
In large enterprises, the number of patch panels utilized in a communications system can be quite large. In addition, many enterprises are currently investing in large internet data centers. As such, manageability of the equipment in a data center/communication closet is becoming increasingly important. One aspect of manageability that is being utilized in many data centers/communication closets is the use of structured cabling to interconnect equipment, particularly jumpers interconnecting patch panels and other equipment.
Conventionally, optical fiber cabling utilized as a jumper is assembled in the field. The cable is pulled from a reel, cut to length, and terminated with field-installed connectors at each end. The terminated ends are then inserted into respective adapters in equipment to be interconnected. However, the use of preterminated or preassembled cabling is increasingly being utilized to decrease installation time and cost, reduce system downtime and increase cabling reliability and performance. An additional advantage of preterminated cabling is that the skill level required for installation and interconnection of equipment in data centers/communication closets is lower than for installations utilizing field-assembled cabling. Unfortunately, the use of lower-skill installation/maintenance crews may increase the risk of improper interconnection of equipment in the field.